A joint submission by IFLA and the Uganda Library and Information Association to the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review outlines key developments and ways that libraries work to support the fundamental rights to education, health, and work in Uganda, and how more could be done.

Universal Periodic Reviews (UPRs) are UN-led mechanisms that help benchmark the progress of all UN Member States towards delivering on their human rights commitments. As part of this process, stakeholder inputs help identify key trends, achievements and good practices – and IFLA continues to work with our colleagues and experts across the globe to offer insights on human rights developments and practices from a library perspective.

Uganda

Prepared in collaboration with the Uganda Library and Information Association (ULIA), a new UPR submission highlights:

 

 

  • Key priorities in addressing the impacts of the pandemic on the right to education – particularly through the closures of schools and tertiary educational institutions. Access to learning and educational materials has proven to be a key concern – and, where possible,  libraries have been among the actors working to respond by supporting and expanding such access.
  • An inclusive educational environment which further facilitates good learning outcomes is important to help pupils and students catch up after school closures. School library-based interventions can suggest some possible and replicable good practices which can help further boost reading, literacy, class engagement and learning outcomes.

 

 

  • The right to information and learning opportunities is an important dimension of the right to health. Interventions in public and community libraries in Uganda illustrate how community-centric models of boosting access to health information and education can be a part of an overarching strategy to deliver on the right to health.
  • Defending and delivering on the right to work, addressing economic vulnerabilities – especially among the more at-risk members of society – is key. Public access to the internet and ICTs and upskilling opportunities in libraries in Uganda have shown mechanisms which can be leveraged to further support employment and income generation.

Read the IFLA – ULIA submission for the Universal Periodic Review in Uganda: [PDF- English]

Would you like to find out more about the ways libraries around the world champion human rights? You can take a look at other UPR inputs which highlight the work of libraries in Italy, Croatia, the United States, Australia, Georgia, Myanmar, Belgium, Eswatini, Greece and Ireland.

You can also find out more about the Universal Periodic Review, and how libraries can get involved.